IS 300h poor headlights.

reeac · March 16, 2018

Don't go quoting "rules of the road" too much when you have 100 watt bulbs fitted yourself.

parkman · March 16, 2018

Absolutely ! This was about 10 years ago, and the police in Ireland didn't know much about stuff like that at the time. They could tell if you number plate was wrong, or if you had no lights, but they weren't aware about changing headlight bulbs from standard to upgraded. Provided your lights worked was OK !!

Parkman.

reeac · March 22, 2018

I have now used my IS300 h Sport for some rural night driving and can compare the lights with those of my old Jag. which had a four 5.75 inch 60 watt main/ 55 watt dipped quartz halogen setup. The bixenons give a much more uniform and whiter distribution of light in dipped mode but switching them to main beam appeared to add less additional light than in the case of the quartz halogen system. Overall I prefer the bixenon system as dipped beam performance is more important to me from a safety viewpoint.

parkman · March 22, 2018

I would have to agree with Roger, that is more or less the same thing that I have found. The dip beam is moderately OK, but I feel that I am guessing where the road goes sometimes when someone comes in the opposite direction on a country road. But switching to main beam immediately that the enemy has passed doesn't do much to help as far as illuminating the road ahead.

I just have to rely on my reactions. I would be really interested to see whether this could be because the seating position in the IS is much lower than my previous car, a Mercedes E220 cdi. Not only that, but before the Mercedes I had a Mitsubishi Pajero, and these days I also have an '83 Mercedes 500se which is quite a high seating position.

So it may just be the ride height of the IS.

Parkman.

DanD · March 27, 2018

I drove an NX luxury a while back, with Xenon (or was it LED) main beam, and halogen high beam. I found the high beam poor but put it down to the fact that there is too much of a difference between the bright white of the low beam, and the lesser white of the high beam.
I recently swapped my previous RX for a NX f Sport with the 3xLED lights. As someone posted above, these lights are certainly bright, but I too found the throw too short, to the point that I took it back to the dealer to see if the lights could be adjusted.
There is some small level of adjustment possible... But the difference is marginal to say the least.

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NemesisUK · March 27, 2018

4 minutes ago, DanD said:

I drove an NX luxury a while back, with xenon (or was it LED) main beam, and halogen high beam. I found the high beam poor but put it down to the fact that there is too much of a difference between the bright white of the low beam, and the lesser white of the high beam.
I recently swapped my previous RX for a NX f Sport with the 3xLED lights. As someone posted above, these lights are certainly bright, but I too found the throw too short, to the point that I took it back to the dealer to see if the lights could be adjusted.
There is some small level of adjustment possible... But the difference is marginal to say the least.

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Does the low (dipped) beam not remain on with the high (main) beam?

TBi · March 29, 2018

I took a long drive in the dark this week and i think the major problem is not the brightness of the lights. Instead the issue is that the aim is low and so they don't light up as much of the road in front as previous cars. I tested this with the i3 and IS300H next to each other with dipped lights on. The i3 shone a few meters more ahead, just enough to make it feel 'brighter' while driving.

Has anyone tried to change the aim of the lights?

parkman · March 29, 2018

DanD seems to suggest that there is little or no adjustment in the adjustment of the lights. I have not checked this myself, it's been a bit too cold for an old goat like myself to go out and fool about under the bonnet, but I could well believe that parts needed to allow adjustment may not be fitted on an economy basis.

A bit like changing from a full sized spare wheel, to a space-saver, to a can of sealer !!!!

I must have a look under the bonnet of my IS 300h when the weather warms up a bit.

Parkman.

DanD · April 3, 2018

I believe that the lack of adjustment maybe linked to the fact that Xenon and LED headlights are self levelling.

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NemesisUK · April 3, 2018

1 minute ago, DanD said:

I believe that the lack of adjustment maybe linked to the fact that xenon and LED headlights are self levelling.

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May be correct but on my C class (I retrofitted OEM xenons) there was standard adjustment to set the zero point for the auto-adjustment.

BigChange · April 4, 2018

Having just experienced an MOT/lheadlight problem and seen it tested before and after bulb replacement I wonder if the throw length has something to do with the (low) height of an IS300. Certainly seems to light up less road ahead than my previous BMW320. I guess there is a regulation somewhere which specifies how far forward a headlight must illuminate.

rayaans · April 4, 2018

11 hours ago, BigChange said:

Having just experienced an MOT/lheadlight problem and seen it tested before and after bulb replacement I wonder if the throw length has something to do with the (low) height of an IS300. Certainly seems to light up less road ahead than my previous BMW320. I guess there is a regulation somewhere which specifies how far forward a headlight must illuminate.

Not really to do with how far forward it needs to illuminate but there is certainly a standard for headlight adjustment in that it shouldn't be too high as to dazzle oncoming traffic

Also worth remembering that if you're sitting lower down, perceived length of beam would be less than if sitting higher

TBi · April 11, 2018

Anyone know how to adjust the xenon's on a IS300h? I found something for the F-Sport but they have different LED lights.

rayaans · April 12, 2018

16 hours ago, TBi said:

Anyone know how to adjust the xenon's on a IS300h? I found something for the F-Sport but they have different LED lights.

No idea on how to do it

but from what Ive read, you can only do it a little bit anyway.

ColinBarber · April 20, 2018

On 11/04/2018 at 7:09 PM, TBi said:

Anyone know how to adjust the xenon's on a IS300h? I found something for the F-Sport but they have different LED lights.

TBi · April 22, 2018

Thanks Colin. I think i found the horizontal adjustment screw last time. i'll search again for the veritical one!

Is there a way to download that whole manual online?

Hadrian · May 24, 2018

I'm glad I found this thread.

I've only had my 2015 IS a couple of months, and went out for the first time in the dark at the weekend. Albeit on well lit roads.

A couple of questions (rather than RTFM). Are the headlights self levelling ? The care was serviced and MOT'd pre delivery so I assume

headlight levels are correct. Is there an auto setting for headlights, which brings them on in dark or overcast conditions ?

Are headlights self dipping, or was that an optional extra ?

DanD · May 24, 2018

Yes, they are self leveling.
Yes, there is an auto function: just make sure the stalk is in the position marked AUTO
No, there is no auto-dip function. Or rather there is, but on some versions of the face lifted model (2018)

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